Archive for year: 2017

“Assessment of exposure and potential risks to human health associated with the use of ELT recycled rubber crumb in artificial turf” 17/5/2017

Recently, European authorities (the European Chemicals Agency, ECHA, and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, RIVM) evaluated potential risks from using synthetic turfs, filled with rubber crumb from recycled tyres, for sports activities. Both authorities concluded that these sports fields can be safely used. Nevertheless, public debate about health concerns is still ongoing. This research project is initiated by the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturer‘s Association (ETRMA) together with the Crumb Rubber Industry Platform (CRIP) and is carried out by the independent scientific consultancies FoBiG, Eurofins and Labosport. With this research project a major effort is made to fill remaining data gaps and to come to a comprehensive risk assessment of substance potentially available from rubber crumb used as infill material in artificial turfs.

During the project rubber crumb samples from tyre recycling companies as well as from artificial turf fields are obtained and analysed for chemical substances. In addition, volatile substances released from the rubber matrix to air and substances released into body fluid simulants are measured. Finally, exposure measurements are performed in the air over artificial sports fields and other potential intake routes (oral or dermal) are assessed.

The information is compiled and a detailed exposure assessment is performed for groups of people using the sports fields. By comparing the exposure information with the hazard profiles of the substances a risk characterisation is performed in order to investigate if there are risks from exposure during use of these artificial turfs. The methodology and the results of this project will be published. This project, with a planned duration of 2 years, started in early 2017.

Since 1990, synthetic turf is the surface of choice for sports fields under intensive play, harsh climatic conditions or both. While different types of synthetic turf exist, 95% of fields use rubber recycled rubber granules as infill material for shock absorption purposes.

Recently, there has been a growing concern on the potential health impact for those regularly in contact with those materials, especially young athletes. While these concerns deserved to be addressed , all studies on the subject have concluded that, by a very large majority, infill products sold on the market do not present any health risks. This has been confirmed again by the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) in its report dated 28 February 2017 (available here). In this report, ECHA advises all interested parties (sport associations, clubs, field owners, manufacturers and importers) to test the rubber granules and communicate the information in an understandable way to the players and the general public.

In order to support this approach and make testing of granules and infill easier and accessible to all, we are launching a new online service : TESTYOURINFILL.COM

The service is available at www.testyourinfill.com for the US and Europe. Residents of other countries can order similar testing services by contacting us directly.

Our testing package focuses on the latest requirements for Heavy Metals and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are key substances of interest. This will allow to identify the nature of the material, its origin and, will raise a flag in case its chemical composition is considered to be unusual by our experts.

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Christophe Gestain as Senior Agronomist, responsible for the Natural Turf and Agronomic Systems division at Labosport France.

Christophe will manage the natural turf operations and development of Labosport in France, Belgium and Switzerland, starting as of February 1, 2017.

Christophe hold a Diploma from the public agronomy school LEGTA in PAU MONTARDON, is a Scientific Expert recognized by both the ministry of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture in France and has more than 20 years’ experience in agronomy and agriculture related services.

Christophe is the acknowledged Turf Expert for the French Rugby League and brings to Labosport France a number of accreditations and titles:

http://labosport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/football-stadium-natural-and-hybrid-pitches-Labosport.jpg8531280Webmestrehttp://labosport.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/logo.pngWebmestre2017-02-01 16:33:042017-02-08 16:54:24Labosport France strengthens its expertise in natural and hybrid pitches with the arrival of Christophe Gestain